Cuba Conspicuously Missing From 2016 Basel Bank Transparency Index

Last month, the Basel Institute on Governance released its 2016 Basel AML Index.

The Basel AML Index is the most renowned, annual ranking assessing country risk regarding money laundering/terrorism financing. It focuses on anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML/CTF) frameworks and other related factors such as financial/public transparency and judicial strength.

The Obama Administration recruited a small, local, real-estate bank with no international experience, South Florida's Stonegate Bank, to open a correspondent account and handle transactions with Cuba's shady banks?

Would Obama do the same for Syria and North Korea? Well, actually, never mind...

Just recently, we had noted how Cuba's Banco Financiero Internacional was now directly taken over (overnight) by Castro's military conglomerate, GAESA. This state-owned bank is solely empowered by the Castro regime to conduct commercial banking operations in convertible currencies. Virtually every foreign company and person engaged in business on the island must open an account in this bank.

These are not "positive steps" as The White House's "echo chamber" likes to propagate.

Obama may be willing to sacrifice transparency and security for his "legacy," but regulators and other career officials that will outlast his presidency definitely should not.